Summary
Think of ancient mummies, and you might imagine Egyptian pharaohs in their highly decorated cases. But in actual fact, Chile has the oldest mummies in the world. Unesco recently addded the archaeological sites and the artificial mummification of the Chinchorro culture to its World Heritage List. Around 300 mummies have been excavated from three different sites in the north of the country, near the border with Peru. The nomination took decades of work, drawing on many years of different scientific studies.
Jane Chambers travels to Arica in northern Chile to find out more about the Chinchorro culture and how they used mummification to remember their dead, 7000 years ago.
Photo: Chilean mummy from the Chinchorro culture (Credit: Bioarchaeology lab of the University of Tarapaca)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting. |
| 0:04.3 | I'm Sasha Johansson, I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts. |
| 0:11.1 | My real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest |
| 0:16.8 | stars who can really bring those stories to life. |
| 0:20.0 | I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final |
| 0:25.9 | edit. |
| 0:26.9 | There's nothing like it. |
| 0:27.9 | What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you, so whatever we commission |
| 0:32.6 | has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK. |
| 0:36.9 | So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover. |
| 0:40.6 | Have a listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:49.8 | Contrary to what you might think, Chile, where I live, actually has the oldest mummies |
| 0:54.5 | in the world, not Egypt. |
| 0:56.6 | Inesco recently included the archaeological sites and the artificial mummification of |
| 1:01.4 | the Chinchoro culture to its world heritage list. |
| 1:05.1 | Around 300 mummies have been excavated from three different sites right up in the north |
| 1:09.8 | of the country near the border with Peru. |
| 1:12.8 | The nomination took decades of work, drawing on many years of different scientific studies. |
| 1:18.2 | I'm Jane Chambers and for discovery from the BBC today, I'll be travelling to Erika |
| 1:23.4 | to find out more about the Chinchoro culture and the incredible lengths these marine hunter |
| 1:28.1 | gatherers went to to remember their dead 7,000 years ago. |
| 1:32.9 | I'm off to meet anthropologist, Banada Ariasa, who's head of a small team at the University |
... |
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